08/24/2026
Mistakes... failures and why we are OK with them..
Last cutting taught us a hard (and expensive) lesson.
We didn’t let the hay cure long enough… and we lost most of it to mold.
This time around we’re doing it differently. After the drum mower lays it down in those tight little windrows, we’re spreading it wide open with the tedder. Drum mowers are tough and efficient, but they leave the hay stacked up so the underside never sees the sun or the breeze. Spreading it out right away lets the air and sunshine hit every stem, speeds the dry-down, and (hopefully) keeps the mold away this round.
And right there in the middle of all of it is our littlest farmer, hands on the wheel, learning the same lessons we are.
Neither Bonnie nor I grew up on farms. We’re figuring this out as we go—making mistakes, adjusting, and trying again. The kids see every bit of it. They watch us lose a cutting, shrug it off, talk about what went wrong, and get right back out there the next time.
But it’s not just the big failures like spoiled hay. It’s the everyday ones too.
Mislabeling a bag of seeds and discovering it only when it’s time to plant.
Grabbing the wrong piece while packaging a cage kit and having to reship that peice.
Planting something in the wrong spot or forgetting to document a change in the soil.
Those small mistakes matter just as much. They teach the same core values: slow down, double-check your work, own the error, fix it, and move forward without drama. Our kids see us handle the little mess-ups the same way we handle the big ones—and that consistency is what sticks.
Resilience, attention to detail, problem-solving, and the quiet confidence that comes from knowing you can bounce back… those aren’t things you can lecture into a child. They have to watch them lived out in the ordinary work of the farm, the shop, and the garden.
So here’s to imperfect hay, imperfect cage kits, imperfect seed labels, imperfect parents, and the little hands that are learning right alongside us.
Here’s to the next cutting (and the next cage, and the next planting) being a little better than the last… and the kids growing a little stronger because of it.
